Crippled Bird
by Zorgithon Phantom CXIV
Summary: Richard fell with his parents, but somehow survived. As he is recovering in the hospital, well-known celebrity Bruce Wayne sees his story in the news and instantly relates to the boys' hardship. He then decided to adopt the crippled bird, not knowing that not even a wheelchair could keep this Robin from flying.
1. Chapter 1

**"TRAGIC ACCIDENT KILLS FAMILY OF ACROBATS**

 **YOUNGEST FLYING GRAYSON SURVIVES"**

Bruce Wayne read the headline of the Sunday morning paper while he waited for his breakfast. He recently donated a relatively large amount to Haley's Circus, but was out of the country on business, for their first performance. The newspaper stated that Richard survived and was recovering in Gotham General. Alfred arrived and placed a plate of eggs, bacon, a slice of toast and a cup of coffee in front of him. "Master Bruce, have you found anything interesting in the paper today, sir?" Bruce raised an eyebrow at his butler and replied "Yes and I have plans today." he paused to take a sip of coffee "I need you to call social services and set up a meeting, preferable today." Alfred looked surprised and asked "May I ask why, sir?" "I want to take him in and before you ask, it's because I see myself in him." "Very well Master Bruce."

"Are you sure, Mister Wayne? Taking in a child is a big responsibility, it is going to be difficult." Bruce smiled and replied "Yes and I think that the house is too lonely and quiet." Miss Schvartzki was a tall, lavender haired, bright green eyed woman with a kind personality. She was Richard Grayson's social worker and the two adults were discussing Bruce Wayne fostering the young orphan. "Well," she shuffled some papers "it seems that everything is in order. It will take twenty-four hours for it to be official, so you can pick him up around eight tomorrow morning. That's when he will be released from the hospital." The two stood and shook hands, exchanging good-byes. "Alright, have a nice day Mister Wayne." "You too Miss Schvartzki." With that, he left.

Seven forty-five the next morning, Alfred left to drive Bruce to the hospital to pick up Richard. They pulled up ten minutes later and Alfred parked in front of the hospital. "I'll be right back Alfred." Bruce walked up to the receptionist and asked for Richard's room number, she gave it to him, along with her number. Once he found Richard's room, he found a doctor. "Hi, I'm here to pick up Richard. Is there anything I should know before he is released?" The doctor looked at his clip-board before replying "Yes, unfortunately, there is. First off, when Richard fell, the way he landed saved his life. But at a price; Richard is paralyzed from the waist down, therefore he is confined to a wheelchair. Second, Richard is suffering from a serious head trauma. If he spaces out sometimes, that is normal, on rare occasions he will pass out, but that is to be expected. He is asthmatic and needs an inhaler. Lastly, he is allergic to peanuts. Call if you have any questions or concerns." After the man finished talking, he left. Leaving a very flabbergasted billionaire in the hall.

By the time Bruce actually entered Richard's room, the nurses had Richard situated in his new wheelchair and were tying all of his 'Get Well Soon' balloons to a gift bag which was attached to his chair. Once they saw Bruce, they all said their fare-wells and left; except one. She was holding an opaque hospital bag and was smiling cheerfully. "Hello Mister Wayne! I'm Janet, Richard's nurse. Here is Richard's medication, inhaler and pill schedule. I will walk you out to your vehicle and help get Richard inside." Bruce took the bag Janet handed him, she took the handles of the child's chair and asked "Richard, are you ready to go to your new home?" Hesitantly, the boy nodded and the three headed for the front door.

Outside, Alfred held the back door open and was mildly surprised when Bruce walked out of the hospital with Richard being pushed in a wheelchair behind him. They stopped at the limo and the nurse unbuckled Richard from his wheelchair, allowing Bruce to gently lift the small boy into the back of the car. Once Richard had his gift bag and balloons on the seat beside him and his wheelchair in the trunk of the limo, Bruce went to go sign him out. Soon, he returned and got in beside Richard; Alfred pulled out of the parking lot and towards Wayne Manor.

During the ten minute ride, Richard stared unblinkingly out the car window and watched the scenery pass. Trying to break the silence, Bruce spoke "Richard, my name is Bruce Wayne, I know this is hard but I hope you will like your new home." Richard turned his head to look at the man in a suit and nodded slowly. Bruce continued "I am a billionaire, so if you want anything at all, you can have it. All you have to do is tell me or Alfred, my butler, he is the one driving." "Hello, Young Master Richard. If you ever require anything, just call. Do you enjoy cookies, sir?" Richard nodded slowly "Then I shall prepare some once we arrive." Bruce smiled "Could I ask for something now?"

Wayne was surprised at how intelligent Richard sounded and replied "Sure, what is it?" The boy reached into the gift bag and pulled out a piece of neatly folded notebook paper. He held it out to Bruce and the man slowly took the paper, unfolding it. He marveled at the list of items, it wasn't like he couldn't afford it, it was the; precise measurements, name brands and models of high-end equipment and materials. "Oh, um…" Bruce looked up at the boy as Richard stopped speaking. "Yes?" Richard rubbed the back of his neck "Could you call me 'Dick'? It's what my parents used to call me." The last part was barely a whisper and the boy turned his head to the window again.

"Only if you call me Bruce." Richard looked at the billionaire and gave a small smile. "Deal." Bruce's eyebrows scrunched together "May I ask what all this is for?" "It is just to make your life easier." After that he stopped talking and his eyes glazed over. They pulled up in front of the mansion and Alfred parked the limo.

Richard didn't blink or move. Noticing the boy didn't respond to him calling, Bruce carefully picked Richard up and placed him in the wheelchair Alfred had gotten from the trunk. Bruce calmly wheeled the boy into the house, allowing his butler to open the door for him, and started showing Richard around the bottom floor of the mansion. The boy seemed to snap out of his daze and stared at everything in awe. Nearly three hours later, Alfred found them in the library and announced that lunch was ready. Bruce wheeled Richard into the dining room and into the place Alfred had removed the usual wooden chair from.

After a lunch of grilled sandwiches and chocolate chip cookies for dessert, Richard insisted on wheeling himself to his room and followed Bruce to a large bedroom on the ground floor. All of his belongings had been put away by the ever awesome Alfred Pennyworth. While Dick explored his room and started figuring out where the kind butler had placed the stuff his circus family had packed for him, Bruce told Richard where he would be and headed to the study. Looking at the paper intensely, he tried to figure out what the boy had meant by "make you life easier" and eventually opened his laptop to order the parts. After purchasing the items on the list, he made a copy and went to find out what Richard was doing.

He found the boy at his desk, drawing in a sketchbook with his right hand and writing in a notebook with his left. Bruce watched the boy for a moment before he left silently to check on some things in the Batcave. He returned two hours later to find Richard silently watching from the doorway as Alfred prepared dinner and cleared his throat to make his presence known to the boy. Instead of jumping or flinching, the boy merely turned his chair around and rolled passed the man and back into his room.

Twenty minutes later, dinner was ready, Alfred retrieved Richard and proceeded to collect the correct doses of medication for him. Once Richard had taken his pills, the meal went by silently and was only broken by the sudden sound of a fork hitting a plate and a chair being knocked over. The boy had passed out, only slightly surprising the two older men, one of which was the man holding Richards' head inches above his mostly empty plate of lasagna. Bruce sighed, before pushing the boy back fully into his chair and placing his hands on his lap. The billionaire pulled the wheelchair from its' place and rolled it down the hall. Bruce stopped by the boys' bed, picked him up and laid him on top of the covers. Next, he carefully removed his ward's shoes, socks, shirt, and pants; instead, dressing the boy in some blue pajamas. With great care, Bruce placed Richard under the blankets and tucked hm in, before turning off the light and exiting the room. The rich man went back to the dining room, explained what had happened and finished eating before going to the Batcave to start patrol.

Eight attempted robberies and two almost rapes later, Batman returned and joined the others in sleep. At exactly seven in the morning, Bruce was woken up by Alfred knocking on his door and groggily mumbled "Come in." The butler opened the door and entered, saying "Sir, breakfast is ready and Master Richard is already at the table." Alfred then pulled aside the curtains and exited the room. Bruce quickly got ready and went downstairs to eat breakfast. Like Alfred had said, the eight year old was sitting at the table, but was still in his pajamas and his hair stuck up in all directions. Bruce sat down and greeted Richard before taking a sip of his steaming coffee.


	2. Chapter 2

There was rarely a morning that didn't start like that, rarely a day that Richard saw Bruce and rarely a day that Richard talked without being directly asked a question. At that point in time, Bruce had forgotten to tell Alfred about Richard's allergy to peanuts and the butler mistakenly gave Richard a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. That lunch ended with Richard sleeping until the next morning with a sore throat.

Once the parts and equipment arrived, Bruce had Richard's room connected to the vacant one beside the boy's; creating him a workshop. Bruce personally set up the equipment exactly where the boy wanted it and told him how to operate it properly and against his better judgement, allowed a nine year old to have free reign over the powerful machines.

He put security cameras up all around the room and accounted for every security protocol, all but one. Richard with his brand-new laptop. For a boy with no technological background, Richard hacked flawlessly; editing out what he was actually doing.

Life was quiet-ish, besides the fact that Batman was almost always busy and Richard seemed to vanish directly after every meal, locking his door as he did so. A simple lock wouldn't keep Batman out, but the three deadbolts on the inside could. While every once in a while, Bruce would come in to his ward's room(to see what he was making) only to find a strange lock on the door leading to his workshop.

Alfred and Bruce had decided to home-school Richard until they deemed him ready for an outside school, that proved to be completely useless. The boy was a complete prodigy in everything he was taught and the placement test he took to get into school proved that. The child was nine, but he was as smart as a college student.

With nothing else to do, they sent him to Gotham Academy twice a week for language classes; nothing more nothing else. Bruce took advantage of his ward's absence and attempted to gain access to his workshop, failing every time. If Batman couldn't crack it, no one could and that was a big problem.

The large disc placed over the door and doorway held: a clock, number and letter keypad, a variety of colored wires, a clear tube of water, and a red, yellow, and green button. Each number button made a tone and the letters said a word when pushed; creating a song. The colored ones did it's own action to the tube and wires. Thus, making an un-hackable lock, frustrating Bruce to no end.

Richard was no fool and knew his guardian was trying to get in, he had set up his own homemade camera to record his attempts. His work area looked like no one had touched anything. But if you looked hard enough, you would see precisely welded bars, poles and carefully wired circuits. In the far corner of his bedroom, there were some exercise mats spread over the floor and some rails were bolted to the wall for support. Before and after lunch, if he wasn't needed for anything, he would get out of his wheelchair and exercise extensively until ten-till dinner.

Over a span of two months, he developed enough muscle to lift himself and his chair off the ground with his arms. He calculated that if he continued with this routine, he would be able to do it one-handed in one more month.

Bruce noticed a difference in his ward's actions; when he was called to a meal, instead of letting Alfred push him, he would actually beat the butler back to the dining room. Richard was rarely outside, but when he was, Bruce would watch from a distance just incase he fell or someone decided to kidnap him. Instead of just rolling around staring at things, he would go up to a tree, unbuckle himself and grab hold of the nearest branch.

Bruce was in awe as he watched his nine and a half year old ward, climb up a tree with his upper body strength alone and climb down without incidents. It was then that Wayne noticed his ward's subtle questions about his company and decided that it was time to bring Richard to Wayne Tower the next day. At dinner, he brought it up and watched Dick's reaction closely.

"So, Dick, I was thinking it was time I brought you to work with me. You seem interested in mechanics and I thought you would like to meet Lucius Fox, my CEO and an inventor at Wayne Enterprises." Richard swallowed his food before replying.

"Really? That would be awesome! He could help me with some designs! When are we going?" He looked so hopeful, Bruce had to chuckle and smile at the boy. "I was thinking tomorrow, since you don't have classes and I don't have any big meetings. Does that sound good?" The boy nodded his head furiously and wheeled over to Bruce's chair, maneuvering himself to hug the man.

Slowly, the man returned the gesture and when the boy suddenly started wheezing, he pushed him back to look at his face. Apparently the excitement of meeting an inventor had triggered a mild asthma attack, making it hard for him to breathe. Bruce called for Alfred and once the butler saw what was happening, ran to get the boy's inhaler.

He returned with the medication and coaxed Richard to exhale completely and inhale the mist. It took a few pumps for Dick to calm down completely and afterwards, he was quite tired. After he finished the last two bites of his dinner, Alfred took him to take a bath before getting to bed.


	3. Chapter 3

The next morning, Dick woke himself up at six fifty and began getting ready. He had long since been able to dress himself without help and was, for some reason, proud. The butler had placed today's outfit on a stool by his bed and he quickly got changed out of his pjs and into the clothes. Dark jeans, a black t-shirt with the Bat-symbol in yellow across the chest, and grey sneakers.

Richard packed both of his design notebooks, a few small inventions, a small pencil box of writing utensils, a ruler, and a throw blanket into his backpack; excited to meet the man he read about on the internet. He slid the backpack onto his chair and headed to the bathroom to do his morning stuff, eager to get going. By 7:32, Richard was sitting at the table as Alfred began breakfast and were joined by Bruce a few minutes later.

Although Bruce didn't have to be there until eight, he chose to get there early for Richard's sake and the boy was more than ready to go. Breakfast was short and soon they waved goodbye to Alfred, driving away in Bruce's Porsche. He took a chance and broke the rules, letting Dick sit in the front passengers' seat, but it was worth it. The boy had held his hands in the air and laughed his head off at the feeling of the air rushing past.

Bruce parked in his personal spot, got out and carefully took Richard's wheelchair out of the back seat. He unfolded it and gentle placed the disabled boy in the seat, buckling him in before getting the blanket from his backpack. Richard could hardly wait and almost wheeled off before Bruce could tuck the blanket over his lap.

"Calm down, the office won't go anywhere. Besides, Lucius gets here at eight thirty, leaving us with enough time for a tour." The boy looked disappointed before suddenly getting excited again and asking.

"Does that mean I can meet Sharon and Carol?!"

Confusion spread over Bruce's face and he mentally questioned how Richard knew the names of his secretaries, much less why he would want to meet them.

"How do you know them? I don't remember telling you about them." Richard now looked confused.

"You said they were the best secretaries you'd ever had and told me how nice they were. You even said that they'd been wanting to meet me."

"When did I say that?" Richard laughed. "Five minutes ago, you were talking about what we'd do for lunch and suddenly mentioned them."

Huh. He'd forgotten about that, man he was losing his memory. Nodding in acknowledgement, he steered Richard towards the private elevator and then they were gliding past floors. Upon arriving at the top floor, Richard's eyes widened in surprise at the sight of the pristine carpet and walls carefully decorated with paintings. He had never been in such a fancy office building, or in an office building period; he was quite overwhelmed.

"Good morning Mr. Wayne! You're here early, oh, and this must be Richard?" A blonde haired woman in her mid-thirties wearing a light pink blouse, a black, pencil skirt, and a pair of white heels with black polka-dots, greeted them.

"Good morning Sharon, yes, I wanted to show Richard where I work and once I told him about Mr. Fox, there was no stopping him."

Both the blonde and the red-head at the desk next to her giggled at their boss's antics. Bruce watched as his secretaries shook Richard's hand and bid him good luck on the tour, hoping to meet him again soon. After that, the boy was practically vibrating in his seat during the tour, as the clock ticked closer to eight-thirty. To end the show-around, Bruce brought Dick to the second basement, an area rarely visited by anyone but him and Mr. Fox.

The man in question was just throwing his jacket over the back of his office chair when the two ebony-haired males entered the spacious lab.

"Ah, good morning Mister Wayne." "Good morning Lucius, I would like you to meet Richard, my ward. When I told him you were an inventor, he instantly wanted to meet you."

Fox chuckled and extended his hand to the child in the wheelchair and was surprised at the firm handshake he got.

"Hello Richard, how are you today?" Richard gave a small smile.

"Good, how are you Mr. Fox?" The older man chuckled.

"I am doing as good as can be with arthritis! Mr. Wayne has told me you are interested in mechanics?"

Dick's face twisted into a focused scowl as he nodded, not letting go of the man's hand as he gently prodded and felt it with deft fingers.

"Dick? What are you doing?" Bruce asked carefully, having only seen these exact actions from some of the best doctors in the world.

"Have you gone to a doctor about it?"

At the man's nod, Dick raised an eyebrow and Fox said his doctor just told him to eat healthy foods and take medication. Richard slowly released Fox's hand and told him to soak avocado pits in some rubbing alcohol until the alcohol turned brown and rub it on his joints. The man nodded slowly, not exactly sure how to respond to the young one's advice.

"Why don't you look around a little while me and Mr. Wayne talk business?"

Without another word, Richard gripped his chair tires and gracefully maneuvered himself around the men, instantly going over to a 3D printer.

"Is he always like this?" Lucius moved closer to his boss to prevent the boy from hearing.

"I hardly see him properly, but from what I gather, Richard is a prodigy in anything that does not require using his legs. Even then, that doesn't stop him.

"I mean, I've seen him roll up to a tree, unbuckle himself, grab a branch and climb to the top and then back down without faltering once. It was strange, I got the feeling I wasn't seeing his full potential and know for a fact that he is hiding something in his workshop; but I can't seem to get past the lock..."

Bruce tapers off, watching Richard pull out a notebook and begin writing at an alarming rate on a new page, without looking away from what had sparked his mind. Lucius seems to be lost in thought until a beeping comes from Bruce's pocket and the dark-haired man pulled out his phone.

"It's the commissioner, could you look after him until I get back?" The tech expert nodded and Bruce rushed off to save the doomed city.

"Where did Bruce go?" Richard asked as he watched his guardian jog off to the elevator. Fox gave a sigh and rubbed his neck as he searched for a plausible answer.

"He… had an emergency meeting. He had no idea it was coming and he asked me to look after you until he got back." Richard nodded and smiled before reaching into his bag, pulling out a tablet and began typing at speeds that would make the Flash jealous. With a small beep, the boy slip the tablet back into the bag and held the notebook he had had been writing in earlier, out to the man.

"What's this?" The boy smirked and replied with a nod towards the paper.

"A little bird told me you help a certain shadow under the radar and was wondering if you were interested in a borderline 'Joker' plan?" Trying to keep his face neutral was near impossible once Fox looked at the notebook in his hands. Every single page was covered in calculations, measurements and blueprints detailing a large robot-like machine.

"First of all, how long have you known? Second, why would I help you kill yourself?"


End file.
